Projection: Marijuana Industry Could Employ Over 255,000 People In 3 Years

Most of my friends and family used to smirk when I told them that I was a marijuana blogger. One of my friends point blank said ‘Don’t you have better things to focus on?’ when I text him the first article I ever posted. That was back in January 2010. Zoom forward to today, and almost everyone I know wants to get into the marijuana industry in some fashion. It’s the sexiest industry on the planet right now, and growing every day (no pun intended).

A couple of months ago Leafly released a comprehensive jobs report which estimated that there were 122,814 full time equivalent jobs in the United States marijuana industry. That’s a significant number, as more jobs are always needed across America. Most of the people I know that work in the marijuana industry are extremely happy, and in the rare cases they aren’t, it’s not the industry that is getting them down. It’s usually the person they work for. When I ask them if they are thinking about leaving the industry they always emphatically reply with ‘no, I will just start looking for a different job in the industry.’

New Frontier Data released a new report which estimates that the marijuana labor force will more than double in the next three years, and the overall value of the marijuana industry will grow to a number so large by 2025 that it will blow people’s minds. Per The Cannabist:

New Frontier Data, a cannabis market research and analytics firm, gave The Cannabist a first look at its 2017 annual report, which aims to track the long-term potential for the industry. The report acknowledges external factors such as federal rescheduling or a full-scale crackdown could shake up the near-term.

By mapping out state-by-state sales to $24.5 billion in 2025 and projecting that cannabis industry employment could top 255,000 jobs within three years, New Frontier hopes to show that cannabis is not “just a flash in the pan,” said John Kagia, the firm’s executive vice president of industry analytics.

“It’s very hard to look at both the numbers and associated economic dynamics and envision that this genie could be put back in the bottle,” he said.

A 24.5 billion dollar industry is a massive number. To be fair, it’s tough to project that far into the future when it comes to marijuana because the industry is so closely tied to the political climate. As we have seen with the confirmation of long time drug war warriors like Jeff Sessions as United States Attorney General, the mood of the industry can change pretty quickly. With that being said, the genie is way out of the bottle, and there’s only so much federal enforcement that can be thrown at state industries. Will these projections prove to be true? There’s a great chance of it happening. Time could prove these estimates to be too conservative. If reform spreads nationwide by 2025, the sky is the limit on how big the industry can get. So get active in your state and lobby your federal politicians and encourage them to support reform!!

Johnny Green is a cannabis activist from Oregon. Johnny has a bachelor's degree in public policy, and believes that the message should always be more important than the messenger. #LegalizeIt #FreeThePlant

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New Frontier Data, the authority in data, analytics and business intelligence in the cannabis industry, has refined our market projections for adult use and medical markets across the country as part of our upcoming report, The U.S. Cannabis Report: 2018 Industry Outlook. We forecast the legal cannabis market to grow […]